L4: How do UK Members of Parliament get elected?

Question 1

Who are parliament and what are their two core functions ?

Answer 1

Bicameral- (HOL-unelected;HOC-elected) + the crown
- Scrutinise the executive
- Making legislation

Question 2

FPTP System

Answer 2

• Used by UK, Canada and some parts of USA
• Ballot system accessed by all those eligble to vote
• Votes are cast to elect MPs to the LOWER chamber of the HOUSE: (MPs)

Question 3

In the FPTP system, how can we form a govt ?

Answer 3

• Total of seats counted
• If more than 50% (326 seats
• At the 2019 general election, conservative party won 365 seats

Question 4

Strengths and Weaknesses of the FPTP system

Answer 4

Advantages:
- Simple and Efficient
- Strong govt even when country is divided
Disadvantages:
- Undemocratic
- Perptuates power divides between parties
- Safe” and “swing” parties

Question 5

Proportional Representation

Answer 5

-Route for extremism
- Weak government ? Too much diversity
- Weakened relationship between constituent and consistency

Question 6

Elective Dictatorship

Answer 6

• Diagram depicting the law-making process
• Term coined by Lord Halisham

Question 7

Features of an elective Dictatorship

Answer 7

• Democratic Facade
• Concentrated power- party dominance
• Erosion of Democratic Norms e.g., SOP, ROL, PS

Question 8

Parliamentary Sovereignty

Answer 8

• Parliament has legislative freedom i.e., right to make/unmake laws
• It can’t bind a successor
• No person or body is recognised by the law of England

Question 9

Rule of Law

Answer 9

• No man is punishable or can be lawfully made to suffer in body or deprived of their goods unless they had violated the law which has been established in an ordinary way and applied by an ordinary court
• No man is above the law
• The principles of the constitution are the result of the ordinary law of the land